POUTRINCOURT, Jean de Biencourt (poo-trang-koor), Sieur de, French soldier, born in France in 1557; died in Mery-sur-Seinein 1615. He followed De Monts to Canada in 1603, and was subsequently made lieutenant by the latter. He obtained a grant of Port Royal ill 1604, but gave his principal attention to trading with the Indians, and neglected the colony that he had established there. He returned to France in the following year, and, in pursuance of an agreement with De Monts, equipped a vessel with supplies for the settlers, and sailed from La Rochelle on 13 May, 1606. After fortifying Port Royal, he accompanied Champlain on an exploring expedition as far as Port Fortiane (Chatham), which was not productive of many useful results. He returned to France, his grant of Port Royal was confirmed by the king in 1607, and he was desired at the same time to work for the conversion of the Indians, and to receive the Jesuits as missionaries. He felt a strong dislike for that order, and, on the ground that Port Royal was in no condition to receive the missionaries, begged them to postpone their departure, and then sailed for Acadia in 1608. He afterward wrote letters to the pope and the French court describing wholesale conversions that had been made by himself, and deprecating the necessity of sending out Jesuits. In 1610 Madame de Guercheville formed a partnership with him, according to the terms of which Jesuit missionaries that she should send out were to be supported from the proceeds of the fishery and fur-trade. They were badly received on their arrival, and the suspicions that Poutrincourt entertained of their designs considerably hampered them. He returned to France in 1612, had a serious quarrel with Madame de Guercheville on this subject, and appears to have been imprisoned for some time about this period. Poutrincourt sailed for Acadia after the English abandoned it in 1614, but made no effort to rebuild Port Royal, returned home, and entered the French service. -His son, BIENCOURT, afterward called Poutrincourt, remained in Acadia, and died there in 1623 or 1624.